civilian casualties

The fate of the RMS Lusitania, sunk by a torpedo from a German U-Boat on 7 May 1915 with the loss of almost 1,200 lives, is one still remembered today. It produced shockwaves across the country (and across the United States) and is probably the cause of a similar event six weeks earlier being now largely forgotten. In the sinking of the RMS Falaba on 28 March, one of the casualties was a resident of Herne Hill. Her name was Louisa Tearle and she is one of the very few women whose name appears on the national Merchant Navy memorial.